Touchy, Feely

Internet, smart phone,voice mail, email,Facebook. What do they all have in common?  Heck this one is easy.  They all allow so-called communication between two or more people without any overt face to face interaction. No, you can’t count Skype.You know you all have heard or seen the story, or perhaps you actually participated in the event, where two or more people are at some location, function, or event, where  or at least the majority of people are transfixed on their cell phones and everyone  is texting, emailing or Facebooking  to someone else and are not even looking or speaking at the person next to them. By the way is Facebooking really a verb?

I’ll probably be accused of paranoia or at a minimum some  old senior member of the real estate community who just doesn’t quite get it. They will say this is not the wave of the future but it is the present. It’s reality, and get on board. Well I think, notwithstanding my age,  I get around pretty good in the Digital Age.  I am Linked In, Facebooked, Pinned, Twittered and am blogging away. But I know from my long life in the Real Estate profession, that after searching online for their dream house, buyers want to talk to somebody for advice, they want to go out and look at the house, drive by the neighborhood, go inside, look at the carpeting, paint and room sizes. They want to smell the air inside to see if there were smokers in the house, if it smells like, cat, dog or a beauty salon. A Buyer is not going to get the “feel” for those things  just looking online.  And most importantly, they want to be with a professional who can provide decent council about the house. Here are some additional tips on preparing yourself before you buy. Tips

If you are a seller , can you really be objective about the house where your kids were born, or where you grew up? Maybe  you really liked all of that Flock wallpaper when you lived there. Or those metal kitchen cabinets that you painted 3 times different colors over the last 20 years. And 1 and half baths were just fine for your family of 5 and you never had any problems with the 20 year stove, refrigerator or the dark walnut paneling in the family room or finished basement. You get the drift. If you are honest with your self, if you are a seller, here are some examples  of  things you can do to get your house ready. Click here.

I guess what I am saying that if you want to sell or buy a home and you think you can do it by yourself using only digital and social media marketing;  then maybe you might want to rethink  your purchasing and selling strategy. Go with an agent and touch the house, feel it, see it and ask a million questions. If your selling home sweet home, look that agent straight in the eye and make him  give you  no baloney answers on what you need to do to get it sold. You might have to spend a few dollars, but it might save you some eye strain staring at those digital devices.  And you might make a connection with someone who will become a trusted adviser.